Residents, traders and those who spend time in East London walk around their local surroundings with Video Specs; capturing what they see, and narrating their experiences as they go.
(BROWSE is not responsible for the views expressed)

After working with individuals in the local community, we took BROWSE to a new depth by working with groups to consult them on subjects regarding them. Creative City developed a workshop for Art Against Knives looking at gathering young people's feedback on urban planning, and understanding factors that affect (promote or eliminate) safety. Since young people seem to be the ones that we look upon for delinquency, it would make sense to consult them on how to improve the situation for them and for all.

The workshops

For a week during half term in October, Creative City led workshops with young people aged 11 - 19 years-old.

The first workshop took place at Art Against Knives HQ in Bloomsbury. We first highlighted all factors/elements that one would consider impacting or being part of urban design and the public realm. Lighting, plants, pavements, but also signage and the retail mix. What came apparent is that from this workshop, young people put as much emphasis on the physical aspects, as the emotional ones : people's attitudes and civic manners. Then participants went off with Video Specs to comment on these factors in situ.

Akeine Bennett's video is funny, watch it.

The second workshop was hosted by the BlueHut Youth Centre. Young people mapped out their local neighbourhood. This gave us a pretty good idea of facilities young people used and what their daily horizon is, how far it stretched.

The maps also served to plan the route to take with Video Specs. Once we studied the area and its facilities a little, young people set out to document their opinions themselves.

Upon their return, we debriefed and looked at the footage, before the third workshop which was editing the footage together. Herein follows the videos made by the young people, and editing by the young people. They contain their honest views on what improvements they would like to see in the local neighbourhood.